With a $5.3 billion dollar shortfall, the state legislature is doing everything it can to fill the gap. Budget proposals have already shown cuts to be made in education, and therefore cutting teacher salaries, reducing bonuses and laying teachers off. But the criteria for layoffs could change.

Proposed legislation in the senate would put teachers, and even principles, in line to be laid off by poor performance reviews rather than seniority. The legislation’s goal is to keep young high-performance teachers in schools that need them.